Shaved today with my Gillette New Long Comb. Used a Polsilver Super Iridium, Mike's Lime, and 2 passes (WTG and diagonal WTG/XTG - my usual).
It shaves as well as my R41 with no irritation. No nicks/cuts/etc. Nice and smooth, no sense of drag at all. The complete lack of drag makes it even better than my R41 to be honest. It also feels a little "safer," but that may be because I have read that the New is significantly milder than the R41.
My only 2 problems -
1) The ends of the blade (dull ends) stick out a little more than my R41, and as I've nicked my nose with those on other razors, I need to be careful when trimming that area.
2) It has no plating. While the copper/brass/copper (or red brass/brass/red brass) looks really cool, if a little tarnished from the autoclave, I will need to spend more money to get it replated.
I'm thinking of rose gold for the cap, regular gold for the base plate and the neck of the handle, and rose gold for the rest of the handle. (Restored Razors/onotoman) That assumes that my shaves continue to be this good. Since this is literally shave #1, I only expect them to get better.
After tons of irritation and problems with many other razors (Muhle R89, Merkur 1904 OC, Feather Popular, Matador Toro Mastiff closed comb) and some issues with fiddling around with angles under my nose (Merkur Slant 39c, which is otherwise a fine razor for me), I was wondering if the R41 was the only razor that would work for me. It's both a pleasure and a relief to find that I can use other razors with good to great results. Looking forward again to trying a Matador open comb (Cadet head).
I think that learning good technique is still clearly the most important thing in learning to shave with a DE, but I really do believe that, for myself at least, different razors perform dramatically differently. I can get a great, easy shave with my New. I can also tear my face up with a Toro Mastiff closed comb using the same technique even with varying the angle and using the lightest pressure that I can.
It shaves as well as my R41 with no irritation. No nicks/cuts/etc. Nice and smooth, no sense of drag at all. The complete lack of drag makes it even better than my R41 to be honest. It also feels a little "safer," but that may be because I have read that the New is significantly milder than the R41.
My only 2 problems -
1) The ends of the blade (dull ends) stick out a little more than my R41, and as I've nicked my nose with those on other razors, I need to be careful when trimming that area.
2) It has no plating. While the copper/brass/copper (or red brass/brass/red brass) looks really cool, if a little tarnished from the autoclave, I will need to spend more money to get it replated.
I'm thinking of rose gold for the cap, regular gold for the base plate and the neck of the handle, and rose gold for the rest of the handle. (Restored Razors/onotoman) That assumes that my shaves continue to be this good. Since this is literally shave #1, I only expect them to get better.
After tons of irritation and problems with many other razors (Muhle R89, Merkur 1904 OC, Feather Popular, Matador Toro Mastiff closed comb) and some issues with fiddling around with angles under my nose (Merkur Slant 39c, which is otherwise a fine razor for me), I was wondering if the R41 was the only razor that would work for me. It's both a pleasure and a relief to find that I can use other razors with good to great results. Looking forward again to trying a Matador open comb (Cadet head).
I think that learning good technique is still clearly the most important thing in learning to shave with a DE, but I really do believe that, for myself at least, different razors perform dramatically differently. I can get a great, easy shave with my New. I can also tear my face up with a Toro Mastiff closed comb using the same technique even with varying the angle and using the lightest pressure that I can.
